Letters to the Editor Saturday

There’s another budget showdown in Congress. This time some members want to extend tax cuts for the richest 2 percent while cutting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security benefits.

We can’t afford to make benefit cuts.

These programs support folks in Savannah like Alexandria, a 26-year-old professional bagpiper born totally visually impaired. She receives Supplemental Security Income every month, a form of Social Security which helps to pay for food, bills; a care assistant that helps with laundry and takes her to work; everywhere.

People like Albert, who served as the sole caregiver for his sick mother and cousin for 15 years. He receives $702 a month in Social Security and Medicare to pay for food, utilities and other needs.

People like Alexandria and Albert have done everything right. They followed the rules, paid their fair share, but still have a difficult time. These folks are not looking to shirk responsibility.

In life, things out of our control happen. When they do, our community needs programs to help us get back on our feet.

Aside from being the right moral thing to do, the cost of cutting these federal programs would result in a greater share to our community.

Many working people are still struggling to get by in this slow economic recovery. Folks in Georgia and across the country need more economic security, not less.

We need to protect the programs we pay into and depend on, not cut benefits. It’s time we asked the richest 2 percent to pay their fair share; start focusing on jobs and real economic security for all.

Those doing well in America ought to do right by America.

BRETT A. HULME

President

Savannah Regional Central Labor Council

Savannah

Future bank bailouts may be impossible

The FDIC, created as part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 to provide insurance for some bank deposits, is funded by premiums paid by banks, based on account values and assigned risk levels.

Up through 2008, 11 bank failures had been managed. From 2008 through 2012, the number skyrocketed to 428. By 2009, FDIC reserve funds fell from over $45 billion, to insufficient funds to bail out one more bank.

They estimated a need for $100 billion in new funds for servicing banks in the next four years. Banks were required to pre-pay estimated insurance premiums for three years in advance and the FDIC agreed to insure any and all non-interest bearing accounts.

This temporary program was established for the period Dec. 31, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2012.

This tactic by the FDIC turned lemons into lemonade. Corporations sitting on billions in idle cash, rushed to park it in banks, shoring up their financial ratios to tolerable levels.

This allowed the FDIC to collect higher insurance premiums, plus sit on the sidelines keeping its limited powder dry.

The program is being allowed to end; there is no apparent interest in Washington to extend it.

Subsequently, when another failing bank — there are many and will be more without this crutch — meets its maker on a Friday afternoon, it will join the double-dip bank crisis that is being scripted to recur.

Any cashiers checks, certified checks, anything over an account aggregate of $250k in the pipeline that is trapped will simply become worthless.

EVERETT STEPHENSON

Savannah

‘Guardian angel’ helped catch two robbers

During this holiday season, we are inclined to stop and reflect on what we are grateful for and who we appreciate.

Ironically, a recent unfortunate event culminated these thoughts for me.

Recently, after enjoying an event at the City Market and attempting to attend another at about 7 p.m,, my friend, Terri O’Neil, and I decided to follow each other. During our search for a nearby parking space we ended up circling Warren Square.

Terri came to a cognitive pause and signaled me to her car window. In a calm direct voice she stated, “There is a robbery in the square.” I pulled up beside Terri and we honked and honked and honked.

Though this only went on for a minute or so, it seemed like forever before the perpetrators fled. Terri was on the phone with 911 and we immediately approached the victims to assure them that they were safe.

The Savannah-Chatham Metro Police were amazing. The response was immediate and the end result was positive. The gunmen were apprehended pending identification by the victims.

Many folks are leaving work, shopping or dining and then must walk to their cars. Please take the proper precautions, as you may not be as fortunate to have an angel like Terri following you.

Thus, this holiday season it is impressive people like Terri that I am grateful for.

HELEN L. STONE

County Commissioner

District 1

Chatham County Commission

Savannah

City kinder to runners than its handicapped

I am a handicapped person living in Savannah. I’m wondering what Savannah has against me?

Handicapped parking spaces on the sides of buildings are the farthest away from the entrances. I thought the purpose of these spaces was to give the handicapped a place near the entrance.

There’s no help in doctors’ offices parking lots for people like me who have pulmonary fibrosis and a heart condition, plus are on oxygen 24/7 and can’t walk very far.

I wrote a letter to Chatham Area Transit requesting help and it was passed on to someone else. That is the help I have received for my problem.

I have called, but no one will return my call. I have been refused use of the service without any discussion at all.

What is wrong Savannah? Why aren’t you as good to your handicapped as you are to your runners? We can’t all be runners. Bless the runners, I wish I was one.

Does that mean you don’t care about me? I need to be able to use my wheelchair to go to some of my activities and can’t because of the situation with this company.

I feel they have treated me unfairly and care nothing about the handicapped in Savannah who make up a big part of their business.

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Hell has anyone added up what they pay in all their taxes. Im paying 47 percent and my income isn't close to 250k. Look at all the taxes you pay. Food, phone, cable, gas car tax and so on. Add them up and see how much you've paid so far this year. Trust me it would make you sick. So as for the media making everyone think only the rich will pay is a full face lie. We are already paying and yes my rich neighbors are paying 67 percent on their taxes. So the government is only filling your cup up with crap as they tax the hell out of you for your everyday living expense.

I got no problem with the old, the young, the crippled, the retarded receiving monthly checks from the federal coffers. I have a big problem with a COLA applied to these payments. Stop all COLAS and that would slow the drip, drip, drip from the federal faucet. And show us, via Congress, that we are serious about stopping this damned escalator. Oh dear, I just used Congress and serious in the same sentence.

We could take everything the so called rich have (a one time proposition) and you couldn't run the country more than 3 months. IT IS A SPENDING PROBLEM, NOT A REVENUE PROBLEM. Start with eliminating Baseline Budgeting, we could save a helluva lot of money by just not spending 3 - 4% every year. The politicians are too lazy to check the budgets every year, so they just factor a raise every year, the economy be damned. For this who don't understand, it would be like my wife going out and spending $500 and coming home saying that she saved me money, because she had budgeted spending $800, when we could only afford her spending $200. You folks better wake up and hold these peoples feet to the fire. Some get SSI because they are classified as disabled when they are only substance abusers, there are stories of drunks diagnosed as disabled having their SSI checks mailed to the licquor store. I once worked with a woman that was living with her boyfriend, they had a child together and she was receiving everything the govt offered, AFDC, Food Stamps, WIC, she told the social workers he was her cousin. Oh, and to add insult to injury, she was selling the Food Stamps for 50 cent on the dollar.

What is it about all you liberals who think that that the rich screwed over the poor in order to get rich. Most people who are well off got that way because of hard work and taking risks. And our government wants to penalize them by taking more of their money. Whether you wish to believe it or not they are the ones who do most of the hiring in this country. I have known rich people in my life but I do not know any who you liberals perceive as greedy. Most people who are considered rich by our standards are grateful for what they have and are very generous when it comes to donations to the charities of their choices.

I can think of 2 people (who are now deceased) who were not only grateful and generous but went to Mass every morning of their lives because they knew that if not for the grace of God they could be living from paycheck to paycheck.

Oh and by the way, as a small business owner, if our business is going through tough times we are the last ones to get a a paycheck. A few years ago my husband went 4 months without a paycheck. And we lost that business anyway. That was a lot of money down the drain. Although we are somewhat successful now we are by no means rich.

Tax laws have favored the wealthy for decades. The average federal tax rate for the riches 400 taxpayers was 16.7 percent because they largely get their income from capital gains. Over 50% of capital gains income earned in taxable accounts (as opposed to IRA's and 401k's) are earned by, get this, 1/10th of 1% of the households in the USA. It is time that they pay a bit more. No one has proposed a whopping tax hike on the upper 2%; a small increase has been proposed. Don't worry about the wealthy. They are being well taken care of by Congress and will continue to be afforded their protection.

I can answer your question Yulb,I think a fair tax on that 18,000 would be $4,680.00, and before you ask, a fair tax on someone making ....oh...lets go with the presidents number $250,000, would be $65,000. Does that sound fair to everyone? How about you minister? the guy making $250,000 makes roughly 14% more than the guy making 18,000 per year and pays about 14% more, does this not sound fair? The same percentage is paid, affecting everyone equally.Of course, none of this matters if you take in an additional 500 billion, but spend 750 billion.

It seems to me the best way to dispense charity is not filtering it through a Govt agency where waste is rampant, but through private charities. There is a gentleman living on the Landings that as Ed would say, "Pulled Himself Up By His Bootstraps". He started out at the bottom with UPS when it was a very small company, driving a truck for UPS, borrowed money to buy stock in the company and worked his way to the top, to VP, and is wealthy by anyones standard, and you all have most likely seen his generosity all over town, the same with Allen Paulson, another bootstrap guy. These guys had a lot of determination and drive to lift themselves beyond what poverty they were born into and it took a tremendous amount of hard work and sacrifice to get there, and when they did, they never forgot the people they passed on the way up and in spite of conficatory taxes, never forgot those people and gave back many timers over, and wiTH greater impact than the govt. We all agree that there are some truly needy that need our help, but we DON'T need the coercive power of govt to accomplish it. Ed, you muct be a very bitter peson to hate the wealthy so much. Without people willing to take a chance we would not be driving in cars, or have electric lights, or any of the other luxuries we take for granted. And everyone of the people who gave them to us, gave their money back many timers over, and everyone to a man started out POOR. So take your nutured hate of the rich and go cry in your beer.

First, I would like you to explain how you know my Religon, Hypocrisy (we all have some), Ignorance ( you don't know my educational background), Racism (I happen to be married to a Native American). I lost everything I worked my entire adult life for due to greedy POLITICIANS, Frank and Dodd come to mind. I don't complain about it, nor do I ask for pity or a handout. I am making half what I am used to making, but very happy, and stilla haven't asked for anything from the govt or anyone else, you see, I am proud of my heritage to, of a Grandmother that raised 8 children by herself in the drepression, who also never asked anything of the govt. Second. Do you have the same disdain for the thugs and takers in our community, and yes all races fall under those categories, Did you even read any of my other post today? I don/'t care about your ancestral homeland or your heritage, it is one of hate,judgemental of others but never looking inside yourself. So spare me the SELF SERVING bile you dish up as reasoned discourse. Racism is defined by prejudging others which is exactly what you did with me.

I could say the same for you as to what you said to Backisland. And by the way if you have a comfortable life style I'm happy for you but you can always give more money to the gov't if you don't think you pay enough. Personally I would rather make a donation to St. Judes Hospital or the Humane Society.

You often say that people should all make a decent living wage. Don't you think that everybody has their own idea about a fair living wage. Does everybody deserve to own a home? What kind of home? Should everyone be able to own a home at the landings or Southbridge, or should they be happy to have a 3 bedroom/2bath home in Pooler. How many automobiles should a family own. If both husband and wife work probably two. What kind and how old of a car.

Should a high school drop out make as much money as someone who went to 12 extra years of medical school/internship. What about the employee who sloughs off and calls in sick all the time, is late every day etc. Should he make as much money as the college graduate who works hard, stays late almost every day or comes in early, and volunteers for extra projects. Everybody is different Yulb. People who do a wonderful job at their work place will probably move up and make more money as life goes on.

I am saddened by many of the comments on here and also by the total lack of understanding about the situation. I am ashamed of the ignorance and intolerance here. You assume too much. You assume because someone is poor that it is their fault. Wrong. You assume that because someone is rich they did it on their own and as someone so erroneously stated, everyone starts poor. What a joke you are. Shame on you. The crisis we are in has nothing to do with the poor robbing the rich, it has to do with the culture of greed and entitlement, and I am not talking about programs to help the poor, I am talking about the rich pillaging and plundering our economy, robbing us blind, stealing our jobs and outsourcing them to other countries in the name of profit and then complaining because we have high unemployment they helped create. What hypocrisy. We entered two wars that were unfunded, off the books, not listed as part of the budget. Last time I checked wars are not cheap, not even talking about the death and destruction! Greedy corporations rob us blind and pay no taxes! You think the rich are paying their fair share? The nerve you have. We pay Isreals defence budget to the tune of 4 billion a year and you want to talk about Social Security which we paid for, Medicare and Medicaid that we pay taxes for and food for the poor? Do you really believe that the poor are the problem here? CEO's making millions of dollars a year and their employees on food stamps and have no health care, that seems fair to you! Is any man worth thousands of dollars an hour and he produces nothing? If it were not for the wage slaves they create they would have nothing. They produce nothing. What does Wall Street produce? Tell me. When these greedy rich refuse to pay their employees enough to live on who do you think picks up the tabs when they have to go to the emergency room because they have no health care because they or their children are sick? Who pays when they don't make enough to put food on the table? Who pays their unemployment when their jobs are outsourced so the rich and get richer? We do. Make all Corporations pay taxes. Cut the subsidies to the oil companies who make billions in profit at our expense. Cut the agri-business subsidies, end the wars today and bring our troops home, end the special loop holes for the rich that are for them only! Create jobs here in America for American workers! Make local jobs for local workers. We pay the taxes! How much tax do we get from those in foreign countries who are paid so little. None! So, rethink all these hateful remarks I see on here and think for yourself. For some I think it may be a new experiene.

You are talking piddle thinking yourselves so intelligent. To the few on here that care for the people who are suffering I commend you. Apparently you are a voice crying in Savannah's wilderness. I see one thing for sure. Reagans compassionate conservatism is as much a joke now as it was then! We have a long battle ahead of us here in the south.

I forgot perhaps one of the most important cuts: Military spending. We could cut our military budget in half and still spend more than almost all the countries of the world, yes, combing China, England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the eastern European countries, Australia and more, and we would still pay more! And who is getting rich off the budget? Certainly not you or any working Joe, no, it is the wealthy!

To the individual that seems to think Alexandria is the position she is in because of choosing a bad profession, you clearly do no understand the conditions of the blind in our society. As Mr. Hume stated in his letter, Alexandria was born visually impaired. While those who are hearing impaired have options available that can fix their hearing, those with visual impairments have much fewer options. Also, the hearing impaired can drive, because hearing is not nearly as important to driving as sight is. The visually impaired - especially those who are totally impaired like Alexandria - cannot drive at all and need others to provide their transportation. If there is no one to drive them, they don't get where they need to go. This fact alone makes finding regular employment a nightmare to find, as most employers require "reliable transportation", and friends, family or assistants don't really count for most employers. This is discounting all the visually intensive things the job itself might require. Thus, the pool of jobs she can take are greatly reduced, and she is still competing with those who can see and provide their own transportation to get to work. So, given the obstacles those who are visually impaired face in society, most are forced to live at home or in a group home. Independent living and a career of her own is a quite an accomplishment for her. This is especially true when one factors in that I personally have less challenges in my own life (not being totally visually impaired being among them) and have failed to achieve half of what she has.

Now, music is a highly intelligent move for those who cannot see - as one does not need to be able to see in order to do it. Yes, there are issues regarding sight reading, but those only occur in certain settings - none of which occur when one is a solo bagpiper. All one has to do is get a recording of the piece and one can learn it by listening to it. When one is out at a funeral or a wedding (especially if outside), sheet music would be impractical anyway, making your ability to read it irrelevant.

She is in demand actually. I have had the honor of hearing her perform live, and it was amazing - and everyone else who heard her then agreed with me after her performance. She has gone from just starting out to people seeking her out. The problem now is that bagpipe performances are fairly seasonal, as weddings are a common source of demand for such performances, and the dead of winter is not when a lot of weddings occur. Even if it was, the temperatures even here in Savannah can get below where it is smart to play bagpipes outside. Also, one soloist cannot command as much of a fee as a whole band. She needs a lot of jobs to survive - which because of weather issues like the ones I mentioned above and the fact that she is not quite well known enough yet to get the number of requests she needs, jobs are limited. While things will pick up for her and her fellow solo musicians as the seasons changes and people become more familiar with her, she is still stuck in a position where without SSI, the lack of affordable food will become quite an issue for her if the loss of heating didn't get to her first.

Lastly, based on what I have been able to find, she has served with the Coast Guard. I doubt that someone who has served their country is what is wrong with it. As she is some who has served, I do not see how it is morally justifiable for the government she served to cut the pittance they provide her. That is especially true now when that is the foundation of her survival during the rough period she is in how .

To sum up here:

1) There is demand for her skills, which does seem to be increasing at a rate where she will eventually not need government help. She is caught now with the reduction in demand due to it being her off season and the fact she is just starting out - both of which are temporary problems that will get resolved.

2) Her "poor career choice" is one of a very short list of options she can take, and like I stated in point 1, it will pay off for her quite well in the future. She just needs to keep pushing with it.

3) This is not an attempt by Alexandria to get the taxpayers to save her while she laments her poor life choices. This is her doing her best to survive given what she can do.

[i]"I got no problem with the old, the young, the crippled, the retarded receiving monthly checks from the federal coffers. I have a big problem with a COLA applied to these payments. Stop all COLAS and that would slow the drip, drip, drip from the federal faucet."[/i]

Bill, I never thought that I would ever read something of yours that was so dumb. Maybe something that I would disagree with but not dumb.

COLA payments are low relative to where they should be not too high and stopping them outright would put more and more people into poverty where some are already at.

If benefits are means tested then maybe the COLA could be adjusted downward but stopping all COLAs for many of the ones you listed would be devastating.

Decreasing or stopping COLAs isn't the answer, except in the minds of far right Republicans, and doing so would definitely cause hardships and it isn't warranted although I would entertain ending them for Congress.

I heard you the first time but to tell you the truth I almost thought you were being facetious. It was only after I read you again that I realized you were telling it like it is the way you saw it.

Where do people like me come from??? I wasn't ever going to mention it but I will now. I grew up in (the last half of my childhood) in a Catholics childrens home in Savannah run by the Sisters of Mercy. That is why I graduated at St. Vincents Academy, Before coming to Savannah I spent several years as a child in a Catholic group home in Batesburg South Carolina run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd That is where I come from. Because my mother died when I was 6 weeks old is the reason I grew up in a childrens home (we don't call them orphanages anymore). The home in Savannah I worked for them for 22 years before they were forced to close their doors after caring for children for 150 years. That was my way of giving back because they had helped me so much.

Living in a childrens home I wasn't taught politics because the Catholic Church is not political. When I graduated St. Vincents I decide to join the Air Force because I knew I had no family to help me go to college. But God had other plans. I met my husband and we married after only three months because we wanted to be married before he went to Viet Nam. I guess you can say the rest is history. I was young when I had 2 babies and we were poor. We didn't have a clothes dryer and I can remember us hanging diapers out on the clothes line freezing our fingers off. (couldn't afford pampers)

Although I was never taught politics I made my own opinions according to the world that I knew at that time. Mainly, that you don't get something for nothing. You have to work for it or earn it. I don't regret those early years and somewhat harsh because they taught me a lesson. Life will get better but only if you work for it.

Brett did an outstanding job writing the letter and I am honored to know him and have him as my central labor council president. If you ever need the services of the American Federation of Musicians, please let us know and we would be more than happy to help. We are always glad to share our talents and gifts, and we chose this career because without music, you tell me, where would this world be? Have a great Sunday everyone.

Ed, are you having cognitive problems? I don't want or need your sympathy, just trying to illustrate my background a bit. I am very happy with where I am in the world, and your comments about self resolvement and resolution are comical at best. Belle and I are trying to show that to get ahead in this world, taking a govt check is not the answer. True compassion is teaching a man HOW to fish, so that he can feed his family for life, the govt gives just enough to keep you in perpetual poverty. We have spent trillions since Johnson started the war on poverty, and the number of people poor hasn't changed a bit. You talk of greed, and I say again, greed has led to some of the greatest inventions known to man, Do you think: Bill Gates founded windows so that we wouldn't have to remember DOS code, Edison the light bulb so we could see at night? It was all done for greed and we benefited from it, no govt programs to subsidize it. I still say we protect the poor, but the freeloaders have to go

I think that me and "the folks of my ilk" already have an understanding of what goes on in our "greedy capitalistic society" Tell me Mr. Ed, What would you recommend to change our economy if capitalism is so evil. What about supply and demand. What about people who take risks to open small businessess and when it fails they still have loans to pay off. Please Mr. Ed. tell me what should take it's place. We live in a free society. Do you want us NOT to be free because some people have more than others. Is that what you teach your clients. You obviously care about other people to be willing to do the kind of work you do even though the pay is less and for that I admire you.

i hate the way our economy has been hijacked to take on 16 trillion dollars debt. Does that concern you at all. Aren't you concerned for your children and grandchildren. I know we are. But if things get to be too strenuous living in our econmy where peope who work hard make more money than those who may not apply himself, well Mr. Ed. There is always Cuba if you are truly unhappy here.

I love dogs so I must admire you for taking in rescue dogs. Those dogs make the the best pets